Water-cooled damper



April 12, 1966 w. F. KAST wATER-oooLED DAMPER Filed March 5, 1964 INVENTOR. W|LL\AM F'. KAST.

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent O 3,245,401 WATER-COOLED DAMPER William F. Kast, Scott Township, Pa., assignor to Loftus Engineering Corporation, a corporation of Maryland Filed Mar. 5, 1964, Ser. No. 349,665 Claims. (Cl. 126-285) My invention relates to heat-resisting dampers and valves for industrial furnaces and the like, and consists in certain new and useful improvement in the construction of such dampers, whose structures comprise water-cooled metal members that provide a support and/ or a reinforcement for the damper bodies otherwise principally formed of ceramic refractory material.

The object of the invention is to provide a damper of the sort indicated which is less expensive to construct and more enduring in service than pre-existing dampers a damper which minimizes the tendency prevalent in most water-cooled structures yfor sediment to accumulate, with serious results, in the passages through which the cooling water ows.

A damper embodying the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view partly in front elevation and partly in central vertical section of the damper;

FIG. 2 is a view of the damper, as seen on the plane II--II of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a view of the same, as seen-on the plane III-III of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawing, the damper or valve comprises a frame formed of standard steel pipe which is bent as shown into two loops L that extend in a common plane. Each loop L has outer and inner leg portions 2 and 3, respectively, :and a bottom portion 4 and a top portion 5.

A header 6, formed of steel plate and welded construction in this case, includes an inlet chamber 11 for a cooling fluid, such as a cool gas or water, and an outlet chamber 12. A supply pipe I for cooling fluid is united, as by welding, with the body of the header and such pipe communicates with inlet chamber 11, while an outlet pipe O is united with the header and communicates with outlet chamber 12. Advantageously, the supply pipe I extends coaxially with and within the outlet pipe O, and a space S between walls of the two pipes, forms a passage for the outdow of cooling liquid from chamber 12.

One end 30 of the pipe of each loop L is united, say by welding, to the header 6 and the interior of the pipe communicates with the inlet chamber 11. The other end 20 of each pipe is similarly united with the header and communicates with the outlet chamber 12 thereof. Cooling water supplied by pipe I to chamber 11 flows through the pipe bodies of the loops L and exits into outlet chamber 12, whence the water escapes through space S to a suitable point of disposal.

It will be noted that the two loops L, depending from the header 6 as the structure is seen in FIG. 1, are spaced apart in the common plane in which they lie or extend; that is, the adjacent limb portions 3, 3 of the two loops are -spaced apart, as shovm in FIG. 1, and a pintle 9 extends downwardly from between the lower ends of such limb portions.

The pintle is Welded in place. In service, the pintle 9 seats in a fixed socket or journal (not shown), while the outlet pipe O, extending upwardly from the assembled damper structure and outwardly yfrom the ue or other passage (not shown) in which the damper functions, may be engaged in a bearing (not shown) that is axially aligned with the socket in which pintle seats. Thus, the damper structure is mounted to turn on the common axis of pintle 9 and pipe O, a vertical axis in this case. A suitable mechanism (not shown) is engaged `to the projecting body of pipe O for turning the damper on its said "ice axis. Since the present invention lies in the structure of the damper per se, it is deemed unnecessary to illustrate and describe the environmental parts and mechanism with which the damper is assembled for service.

The two limb portions 3, 3 of the loops are at their top ends rigidly united by the body of heater 6 and at their bottom ends by the pintle 9. Intermediate steel webs 7 are welded to the limb portions 3, 3 to enhance the rigidity of the assembly, and at the corners of the loops L welded steel braces or gussets 10 are provided for the same general purpose.

On each of the opposite sides of the pipe of each loop L an outstanding steel flange 14 is welded, and such ilanges on each loop extend substantially continuously from the header 6 at the end 20 of the pipe to the header at the end 30 of the pipe.

A slab P of plastic refractory material, fragmentarily indicated in FIG. 1, is molded within the otherwise open area within each loop. On one side of the damper the substantially flat face (13, FIG. 3) of the slab is coincident with the exposed edge 15 of the flange 14, while the face 16 of the slab on the opposite side of the damper is coincident with exposed ange 1'7. The corresponding opposite faces 13 and 16 of the two molded slabs P extend in a common plane, as will be understood upon reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The open space between the adjacent limb portions 3, 3 of the two loops is likewise closed by a molded body or insert R of plastic material, and the opposite plane surfaces ofthe body R are coincident with the exposed'edges of the anges on the respective opposite sides of said leg portions 3, 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the side faces 6a and 6b of the header 6 lie in the respective planes defined by the exposed edges 15 and 17 of the flanges on the pipe loops L, whereby said side faces 6a and'6b of the header 6 and the exposed edges 15 and 17 of the flanges respectively extend in common planes, with the opposite faces of refractory slabs P and body R. At the bottom of the damper a steel plate member 8, through which the pintle 8 extends, is welded in position between the flanges 14 of the two loops L, and this plane 8 cooperates with the anges 14 and the body of header 6 to laterally support and conline the body R of refractory material.

It is noteworthy that the structure of the invention facilitates the molding of the plastic refractory in the water-cooled frame of the damper; to wit, the damper may be laid on its side on a at level surface, say on a flat molding plate of steel (not shown); and in such position the lower side (6a or 6b) of the header 6, the exposed edges (15 or 17) of the lower flanges and of the lower edge of member 8 are snugly seated on such plate. The body of the plate and the bodies of the loops L, header 6, flanges 14 and member 8 above the surface of the molding plate form mold matrices for the casting of the plastic refractory material into the desired slabs P and body R. A straight-edge tool may be laid on the exposed top edges of the flanges 14, member 8 and the then upper side face 0f header 6, all of which extend in a common plane, and such tool may be manipulated along such edges, etc., to fashion the iiat top faces of the molded slabs P and body R.

Wet or moist plastic refractory materials of the sort referred to herein are well-known in the art for other purposes, and suce it to say that, when the molded material has dried, as it is allowed to do, it becomes sufliciently solidified for the damper to be moved and installed in a flue, or the like, where the ilow of hot gases is to be regulated by the damper. The hot gases lire and set the refractory portions of the damper. Alternately, the damper may be kiln fired to vitrify the slab and body portions P and R, and it may be mentioned that cooling duid should be circulated through the metal frame of 3 the damper to protect the frame against damage by kiln temperature.

It is further noteworthy that the water-cooled damper of this invention is relatively inexpensive to construct, both as to required standard type materials and as to required labor. The looped construction of the pipes promotes the ready and non-turbulent flow of cooling liquid through the pipes without danger of serious sediment accumulation, it being noted that cooling water, usually drawn from a river or other natural body of water, contains particulate solid materials and materials in solution that tend to precipitate or settle out of the water and accumulate in the passages of water-cooled structures.

In order to insure that the passages in the loops L are completely and uniformly filled with water, a restriction in the pipe passages is provided to increase the pressure of the water flowing from inlet chamber 11 into and through the loops. A device to this end may take the form of a flow-restricting orifice plate 18 adjacent to the points 20 where the looped pipes are connected to the outlet chamber 12 in the header.

Within the scope of the appended claims various modifications in the damper or valve structure described are held in contemplation.

I claim:

1. A damper having a frame comprised of a substantially closed loop of metal pipe extending in a plane and provided with an inlet and an outlet for the circulation of a cooling fluid through the pipe, an outstanding ange united with said pipe on each of its opposite sides, each flange extending longitudinally of the pipe substantially throughout the length of said pipe, and a slab of refractory material molded in and substantially closing the otherwise open area within said loop, with the opposite faces of said slab substantially coincident with the edges of the anges on the opposite sides of said pipe, respectively.

2. A damper having Ia frame comprised of two Substantially closed loops of metal pipe arranged in a common plane, the pipe of each loop being provided with an inlet and an outlet for the circulation of a cooling fluid therethrough, an outstanding flange united to each of the opposite sides of the pipe of each loop and extending substantially throughout the length of the pipe, and a slab of refractory material molded in and substantially closing the area Within each loop, with the opposite faces of the slabs substantially coincident with the edges of the flanges on the opposite sides of the pipes of the loops, respectively.

3. The structure of claim 2, wherein the two loops are spaced apart in said common plane, means for uniting the limb portions of said loops that extend along the space between the loops, and a molded insert of refractory material in the space between the loops, said insert having opposite faces that are substantially coincident with the planes of the opposite faces, respectively, lof the slabs of refractory material in said loops.

4. A damper having a frame comprised of a metal header having an inlet chamber andan outlet chamber, a supply pipe for cooling fluid opening into said inlet chamber, an outlet pipe for cooling fluid leading from said outlet chamber, two loops of metal pipe arranged on opposite sides of said header and depending therefrom in a substantially common plane, one end of the pipe of each loop being united with said header and in open communication with said inlet chamber, the other end of the pipe of each loop being united with said header and in open communication with said outlet chamber, an outstanding flange united to each of the opposite sides of the pipe of each loop and extending substantially throughout the length of the pipe, and a slab of refractory material molded in and substantially closing the open area within each loop, with the planes of the opposite faces of the slabs substantially coincident, respectively, with the edges of the flanges on the opposite sides of the pipes of the loops.

5. The structure of claim 4, wherein the two loops are spaced apart in said common plane, means for uniting the limb portions of said loops that extend along the space between the loops, and a molded insert of refractory material in the space between the loops, said insert having the planes of its opposite faces lying respectively in the planes of the opposite faces of the slabs of refractory material in said loops.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,596,843 8/ 1926 McDonnell.

1,799,632 4/1931 Murray 122-6 X 1,972,593 9/1934 Keenan 122-6 2,391,010 12/1945 Dalin 126-285 2,534,747 12/1950 Wilson et al. 122-498 JAMES W. WESTHAVER, Primary Examiner. 

1. A DAMPER HAVING A FRAME COMPRISED OF A SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSED LOOPED OF METAL PIPE EXTENDING IN A PLANE AND PROVIDED WITH AN INLET AND AN OUTLET FOR THE CIRCULATION OF A COOLING FLUID THROUGH THE PIPE, AN OUTSTANDING FLANGE UNITED WITH SAID PIPE ON EACH OF ITS OPPOSITE SIDES, EACH FLANGE EXTENDING LONDITUDINALLY OF THE PIPE SUBSTANTIALLY THROUGHOUT THE LENGTH OF SAID PIPE, AND A SLAB OF REFRACTORY MATERIAL MOLDED IN AND SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSOPPOSITE FACES OF SAID SLAB SUBSTANTIALLY COINCIDENT WITH THE EDGES OF THE FLANGES ON THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID PIPE, RESPECTIVELY. 